Change in the form of evolution was the focus of Annual Meeting 2026’s keynote presentation opener with the celebration of the 20th anniversary of the LeadingAge Leadership Academy. Created to address members’ very real concerns in the early 2000s about the need to create the next generation of leaders, what was launched as an iterative project today is an established, impactful entity, with significant reach, well beyond LeadingAge national.

As over one hundred Annual Meeting attendees stood in the Pennsylvania Convention Center conference hall to mark their academy participation over the years, LeadingAge president and CEO Katie Smith Sloan—a pivotal contributor to the academy’s expansion—observed that the positive reverberations from academy participants is significant: “It continues through the people you lead, the people you mentor, the organizations you strengthen, and the older adults whose lives are better because of your leadership.”

The Leadership Academy recognition kicked off a series of leader and changemaker recognitions over the nearly two hour keynote session on Tuesday, October 27.

Katie Smith Sloan: Community Power and Tribute

Recognitions: Joan Anne McHugh and Award of Honor Winners

Mission Moment: LiveWell

Q&A Emma Heming Willis

Katie Smith Sloan: Community Power and Tribute

A core component of all LeadingAge members, whether academy alums or not, is the ability, the willingness, and the capacity to drive change. Over her 20 years leading the community, a decade as chief operating officer and another 10 years as president and CEO, Sloan’s developed a keen understanding of what’s necessary. Empathy, agency, creativity and resourcefulness, and most of all, persistence: that is, the wherewithal to work toward a solution until a measurable, lasting difference is made. “Those characteristics describe each of you in this room and the many LeadingAge members back in their home communities,” she said. “We speak up. Empower others.”

Reflecting on the association’s many achievements over the past 65 years—having dealt with the results of many elections; handled hurricanes, floods, and fires; survived a pandemic; countered negative media portrayals; fought against harmful policies—she credited the strength of collective participation. “There is NOTHING we can’t do if we work together, lift each other up and celebrate the power of the community that is LeadingAge. … We have big hearts, we have brave hearts, and we have bold hearts. …Thank you for being the changemakers the world so desperately needs.”

Following a rich video tribute to Sloan was a poem from leadership educator, poet and author Judy Sorum Brown recognizing the outgoing CEO’s quiet presence, led with grounded awareness and vitality, considered thought that has touched so many.

Recognitions: Joan Anne McHugh and Award of Honor Winners

Established in memory of Joan Anne McHugh, a registered nurse who made a lasting impact on the profession, this award recognizes the vital role frontline nurse supervisors play in the long-term services and supports (LTSS) workplace. As the Personal Care Clinical Services Director at Cross Keys Village, Amanda “Mandy” Crawford leads with her heart. Having been a CNA herself, she mentors with both skill and compassion—sharing tips she learned in nursing school and counseling teams through hard moments.

She has distinguished herself through her unwavering commitment to mentoring, supporting, and developing frontline caregivers. She is known for creating pathways for professional growth, encouraging team members to pursue new career opportunities, and fostering a workplace culture built on trust, learning, and accountability.  Read more about Mandy.

Jill Wilson, president and CEO of Otterbein SeniorLife, received the 2026 LeadingAge Award of Honor, bestowed annually for more than 60 years and one of nonprofit aging services sector’s most prestigious recognitions.

This year’s award celebrates Wilson’s three decades of leadership in aging services and her transformative impact on senior living through strategic growth, innovation, mentorship, and mission-driven leadership. Throughout her career, Wilson has championed the preservation and advancement of nonprofit senior living organizations while helping build partnerships that strengthen communities and expand services for older adults. Her collaborative leadership style, commitment to innovation, and dedication to ensuring a strong future for mission-driven providers have made her one of the most respected leaders in the field. Read more about Jill.

Mission Moment: LiveWell

LiveWell’s Ellen Sue Moses, a retired pharmacist who now serves as an advisory council member of the Empowering Partnerships Network at LeadingAge member LiveWell, in Plantsville, CT, and Michael Smith, president and CEO shared, in a Q and A with board chair Hinrichs, how working collaboratively has helped to change the way that LiveWell and other organizations are thinking about people who have living with dementia. Asked what the aging services sector needs to know about working with those who are living with dementia, “People like Ellen Sue teach me what is possible, rather than what is lost,” Smith said. “Not seeing them as sufferers, but as activists.” Added Moses, “Stop treating cognitive change as an isolated clinical problem. View it as part of the aging experience.”

Get to know more about Ellen Sue via LeadingAge’s three-part webinar, A Practical Introduction to Dementia Inclusion, beginning November 5, 2026.

Q&A Emma Heming Willis 

Author and activist Emma Heming Willis in a conversation with Board Chair Hinrichs shared her experience as a family caregiver for her husband, actor Bruce Willis, who was diagnosed aphasia in 2022 and frontotemporal dementia (FTD) in 2023.

Similar to what she experienced, many families don’t know where to turn when they receive a diagnosis of dementia, many waiting too long to ask for help with caregiving. The biggest gap, she told LeadingAge board chair Hinrichs in a Q&A, is what happens after diagnosis and the journey to get to resources. Though “there is no treatment doesn’t mean that” a plan is not possible. Describing the process of writing her book, “The Unexpected Journey,” as “a calling,” done out of a desire to help others who may be navigating a similar situation, Heming Willis explained how she eventually concluded that she needed outside help from professional caregivers rather than doing it all herself. She credits her family’s caregivers as having “given me my life back in a certain respect. I get to be the mother I always wanted for our children. I get to go back to being Bruce’s wife.” Adding that “the way they showed up, what they bring into that room and their expertise game changing” for her family, she told the room of providers that the work they and their staff do is “so important and I don’t know how many people tell you that. You’re not just supporting a person but the entire family unit. Truly, you are the backbone of our society.”